PUNE, JULY 26: Deepak Dewar's goal five minutes from time hauled Railway Police past Friends XI into the quarter-finals of the Old Boys Association (OBA) invitational hockey tournament being played at the PCMC Poligras Stadium, Pimpri.With the scores deadlocked at 1-1 and the possibility of a penalty stoke duel looming amid fast fading light, the right-half touched home right-back Anand Salve's hit from Railway Police's seventh penalty corner to do the organisers a favour.Green Meadows, however, were made to take the long route to victory and a place in the last eight. A sudden-death penalty stroke duel settled the issue but not before the eventual winners were made to neutralise a two-goal deficit in open play.Five penalty strokes each failed to resolve the deadlock and the battle led to a round of sudden-death penalties where Vilas Sonawne outdid Vivek Kale to enable Meadows make progress.The win must have been particularly satisfying for stand-in goalkeeper Shyam Sharma, Meadows' centre-half, who stepped in for Dorge Sailesh for the shootout.Railway Police were clearly the better outfit and after early running fetched three penalty corners inside 18 minutes, right-back Anand Salve rifled star centre-forward Prakash Sapkal's to the boards during the set-piece.Friends XI were scarcely in the picture and first threatened the cops' citadel a little before half-time but Vishal Meghrathi flashed his attempt across goal in a quick move on the right.Rohit Aspat then shot wide from Friends' second penalty corner in the 34th minute after being ideally placed in the striking circle but Railway Police regained the initiative.At the centre of the policemen's domination was the hub provided by Prakash Sapkal. The spearhead set inside-left Rohidas Musale up in the 42nd minute but a diving effort went just wide.With hardly any respite for Friends, Sapkal himself agonised just moments later after striking the upright from a diagonal pass by Deepak Dewar.With a little over 10 minutes to go, Sapkal wasted a glorious opportunity to wrap up the match when he belted a loose ball miles over the crosspiece and as if to punish the former Mumbai National player, Friends XI scored an unlikely equaliser.A quick counter-attack had the police defence in a rare moment of hesitancy and Friends' inside-left picked up a rebound off Raju Pawar's pads before finding the boards in the 50th minute.The cops were hardly ruffled as the minutes ticked away but with light getting poorer by the minute question marks hung over the tie-breaker had the scores remained level.Railway Police, however, staved off all such anxiety with the match-winner through Dewar from their seventh penalty corner.MEADOWS RALLY: After a barren first half Champions struck two blows through centre-forward Vikas Pillay shooting home centre-half Vikas Kale's pass in the 33rd minute and right-back Savio Victor firing home a penalty-corner in the 49th.But Meadows came back superbly with goals in the last six minutes. Shyam Sharma scored from a rebound off goalkeeper Wahid Pathan's pads in the 54th minute and with just a minute to go left-winger Amit Sapkal dived headlong to connect centre-forward Laxman Sharma's cross.Vilas Sonawne, Laxman Sharma, Hrishikesh Hiremat and Shyam Sharma were successful for Meadows from the spot while Savio Victor, Wahed Pathan, Vishal Puttol and Vivek Kale replied for Champions. Meadows' Kamlesh Owal and Champions' Vivek Kale missed from the spot before Meadows' clinched victory in the sudden-death.Tuesday's matches: 3.00 p.m Goodwill SC vs Kids XI; 4.30 p.m. NDA (Khadakwasla) vs Priyadarshini `B'.Venue: PCMC Poligras Stadium, Pimpri.
